Fifteen Minutes of Fame
by Mini-Stack
Summary: The last thing Sakura Haruno felt like was going to a preppy boy band concert. But here she was, being shoved, squashed and trod on. If it wasn't bad enough that she ended up getting shoved on stage and twirled around like a ragdoll, the hottest member had to go and kiss her. Of course she slapped him. Too bad it was on national television. SasuSaku, AU, some language.
1. Chapter One

**Alright everybody, I ish back. I re-wrote the first chapter, with the help of the wonderful Miss Pibbles, my new Beta. Actually, I can't say that I wrote this chapter, because I would be lying. -Cries into the night- I pretty much just wrote the outline. Miss Pibbles made it sound cool. So everyone should give her lots of love ^_^.**

**Alright, I'll stop rambling, because you probably don't care.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own_ 'Naruto'_ or any _'Naruto'_ characters.**

* * *

"Ow! Goddamn it, _ow!"_

It wasn't surprising that the girl next to me didn't even blink. She just continued to swing her arms around like a lunatic, screaming something incoherent. I cringed, rising up onto my toes, craning my neck to try and see over the enormous crowd that I was currently drowning in. Instead of a clear line of sight, I ended up getting a mouthful of sweaty hair as the girl in front of me tossed her head back.

I spluttered, slapping my tongue furiously. The girl didn't even notice that some of her hair actually been ripped out, and she instead kept jumping up and down. Honestly, how much energy did this girl _have?_ I coughed, using my long nails to scratch my tongue, pulling the last of the hair from my mouth.

Turning my head, I tried to spot the distinctive hairstyle of my best friend, who was the reason for my being in this horrible torture. She had to be around here somewhere, but all I could see were arms, hair, glow-sticks, and the four individual reasons standing on a stage – the very reason for why I hated being here.

It would be safe to assume that I was probably the only teenage girl in the stadium that borderline hated boy bands, and _Fallen Angels_ were definitely no exception. Thrusting my elbows out, I pushed my way through the crowd, suddenly not caring about who I might injure on the way.

"Tennie!" I screamed, but even I couldn't hear my own voice. _"Tennie!"_

Still no sign of her. I then swore to myself that if I didn't find her within the next thirty seconds, I was out of here. "Tente—whoa!"

All of a sudden, the girls around me surged forward like a tidal wave, their screams piercing my ears to a point where I had to reach up and cover them. Caught by surprise, I was swept along, not even trying to fight against it. Stumbling, I caught myself on the back of someone's shirt. A hand then pressed down on the back of my neck, and I could feel my hair being pulled.

"_Ow!_ Get off me – _hey_ – stop pulling—!"

My protest weren't heard – of course – and I shoved the dark haired girl attempting to crawl over my head away from me. I then pulled my hair in front of me and let it fall over my shoulder and down my chest. Someone then stepped on my foot and I yelped, once again bracing myself to shove them away.

_I swear to God, the things I put up with because of her…_

My hip slammed into something solid, and I nearly toppled over.

"What the f—?" I exploded, catching myself short of saying a rather nasty word. Looking down, I had somehow been swept from the middle right of the mosh and had somehow ended up crushed against the metal gate that separated the audience from the stage – prime position for someone who isn't me.

The deafening bass from the speakers thrummed through my entire system, and I could practically feel every single hair on my body vibrate along with it. Like the rest of the girls here, I knew my best friend would want to get as close to her favourite boy band as humanly possible. Despite how much I loved my best friend, I didn't particularly want to be squished up against the railing, clinging to it to prevent myself from being run over and pounded into the floor by these overzealous fangirls.

I had my limits, you know?

The crowd then surged again – harder this time – and I was pushed so hard into the railing that I swore my ribs broke on impact. My breath was sucked out of my lungs, and my hands flew off of my ears to grab onto something – anything – to keep from being trampled into a pile of Sakura goo. But the girls around me didn't care – obviously – and just continued to scream like banshees.

"Ow… ow… excuse me, would you just – _ow!"_

Looking up, I then found out why I was being so mercilessly crushed into the metal gates. One of the singers had fallen to his knees at the edge of the stage, hand outstretched to the crowd. Red tattoos crinkled as he grinned at us, flashing us a wink. The crowd screamed again, and I just rolled my eyes and focused on keeping myself alive, rather than having some pretentious douche see me. The crowd surged again, and a barrage of hands and arms around me stretched out. I swore I could hear some popping out of their sockets.

The boy then grinned, pulling the headset microphone away from his mouth. I watched as he leaned in to the security guard and yell something in his ear. I looked away, trying to shove the hormonal girls away from me. Personal space was something that didn't exist here.

"Oi, stop pushing, you—" my sentence was abruptly cut off, quickly escalating into a high pitched shriek. Someone had grabbed me under the arms and hauled me over the gates, the backs of my knees scraping against the rusty surface. I then came face to face with a frowning security guard.

I blinked, my arms outstretched in a defensive manner. I managed to whimper out a small croak that sounded a lot like 'what', but it was lost to the screams. The security guard then narrowed his eyes at me, and hoisted me higher.

Next thing I knew, I was being shoved onto the stage, and my hand bring roughly gripped by the boy with the red tattoos.

Bewildered, I squeaked as the boy yanked me further across the stage. Stumbling, I turned my head, only to be blinded by the stage lights.

My arm was yanked again – hard. "Hey—!"

The boy slid an arm around me. "Jump!" he yelled, followed by an almighty scream. When I hesitated, he reached down and grabbed my wrist. "C'mon, Pinky!" he cried, trotting out in front of me, back to the audience. I stared at him and he grinned.

"Jump!"

But I never got the chance to ready myself, because the next thing I knew, I was – yet again – yanked sideways. The world spun in an array of blurred colours, melting into one another like different coloured paints. As soon as I had started moving, I stopped – courtesy of the body I had slammed into.

With one last spin – I hoped – I was pressed against the body. An arm then wrapped itself around my waist, and I squinted through the onslaught of light, desperate to see the face.

The arm around my waist then disappeared, and a blonde haired boy appeared in front of me, grabbing my hand and pulling my forward. I could only stumble after him, towards the middle of the stage – and I watched as the boy continued to jump around to the music, mouth wide as he sung along.

"_And I'll steal ya away, beautiful, ooh yeah…!"_ he sang, dropping to his knees. My hand was then brought to his lips, his blue eyes sparkling in the stage lights.

My hand was then snatched away before he could kiss it, and I was elegantly twirled away from him.

"_Ooh, yeah, I'll make you love me, beautiful…!"_

I caught a glimpse of the blonde boy rising to his feet, bounding to the front of the stage before my vision of him was blocked by another boy's face, the smirk well and alive on his lips, one hand slipping around my waist.

The newest boy to hold me now tugged my to his chest, and I could feel the sweat soak through to my t-shirt. His pale eyes were amused, his long brown hair flowing around him like silken ribbons.

The music was much louder now, and the beat was infectious, as was the boys' energy. A hand belonging to the pale-eyed boy grabbed me – gently – and led me to centre stage, raising my hand. A flash of blonde caught my eye, and that boy was back again, yanking my other arm into the air.

"Jump!" he screamed, nodding.

Awkwardly, I bounded on the spot, bending my knees a little as I tried my hardest not to cringe under the blinding lights and piercingly loud music.

A fourth boy – who I seem to remember being screamed and fought over the most by the girls at my school – suddenly appeared in front of me.

_How had I not seen him move?_

Dark eyes, so unbelievably black, like molten pools of ink, glittered down at me.

And he smirked at me.

"_Ooh, yeah, beautiful… I'll make you love me…!"_

"_Ooh yeah, I'll steal you away… beautiful…!"_

On that last note, the boy tilted my backward, hand pressed against my lower back. I squeaked in shock, grabbing his arm and holding on for dear life. My squeak – however – was cut off when he suddenly pressed his lips against mine.

And then everything turned to white noise.

Head spinning, I could vaguely hear the entire stadium burst into the highest, most incredibly high pitched squeals I'd ever hear in my entire life. All I could think of, however, was the fact that my first kiss – my _first kiss_, damn it – now belonged to some pretentious, douchey pop star whose name I didn't even care to know.

Regaining my train of thought, I immediately shoved at his chest, breaking his hold on me. He stumbled back, ungracefully, and I nearly toppled, just barely managing to regain my balance. I glared at him, and stepped forward, arm raised.

And I slapped him.

His head snapped to the side, his black hair following shortly after. As I glared at him, my chest heaving with every breath that I took, I suddenly realized that the whole, entire stadium was silent.

Around _twenty thousand people_ had stopped screaming. _Just like that._

Every… single… one of them.

It was then that the boy turned to look at me, smirk completely wiped off of his handsome face, his shiny black hair now ruffled and clinging to the sides of his sweaty skin. His cheek was stained a brilliant shade of red, his hand coming up to cup it gently, lips parted and dark eyes growing wide in shock.

I wanted to leave. God, how I wanted to_ turn on my heels and run. _But I was physically rooted to the spot. And for a second – a universe-crushing second of time – something flashed across his face. I didn't stick around to find out, as the loud and low hysteria from the fans erupted from down below and shook the concrete walls. If I thought their screaming before was loud, it paled in comparison to this.

This screaming was different from your usual fangirl screams; this was the angry, rabid war-cries of fangirls who had been injected with a concentrated dose of red bull and had their eyelids removed.

And they were all angry._ Really_ angry.

Spotting the first set of stairs that came into my line of vision, I quickly stormed past the four singers, avoiding the searing hot holes each of their stares – coupled with the fangirl war-cries – until I saw Tennie being restrained by a security guard. I gaped at her, almost tripping down the steps as I hurried to her.

"Tennie!" I cried, reaching out for her.

"Sakura!" she cried. "Tell this moron—ow!"

I skittered down the last few steps. "Hey! Stop it! She's with me!" I cried, tugging on his muscled arm. Tenten then scowled, thrashing wildly.

"You know her?" he asked, and I rolled my eyes.

"Yes!"

Nodding once, the guard promptly let go of Tenten's arm, and she latched onto me.

"Sak! _Sak!_ What the _hell_ did you _do?"_ she shrieked, yanking on my arm.

I made a face at her. "What did _I _do?" I cried incredulously. "I bloody well slapped the pretentious idiot who kissed me!"

Tenten then spared a glance at the security guards, who were the only thing standing between them and an early grave, and upon realizing that, her face then grew deathly pale.

"Sakura, they're gonna _kill_ you!"

"Why? _He_ kissed _me!"_

Tenten then grabbed my shoulders and shook my violently. Great, as if I hadn't been pushed, bumped, trodden on, yanked, and spun around enough one night.

"It doesn't matter! Sakura, you just slapped _the_ Sasuke Uchiha!"

I snorted. "Since when did his name ever come with a 'the' in front of it?" I growled, but Tenten just ignored me and kept on screaming and flailing.

"He's the most popular super-star in the world! He's the world's sexiest teenager, and you – Sakura Haruno – just slapped the _shit_ out of him in front of _twenty thousand people!"_

I shoved her away, having been finally fed up with this. "That makes no sense! He kissed me! I was just defending myself!"

"You don't get it, do you?! These fans – Sakura – they're bat-shit crazy! Sasuke is their Jesus, and you're that group of men who had him crucified!" Her eyes then went wide. "You just committed blasphemy! Blasphemy, Sakura!" she cried, voice quivering like it was the end of the world.

I opened my mouth to reply, but was cut off when a harried looking man took my elbow.

"Excuse me, miss?" He looked me up and down. "Yes, I'm afraid you'll have to come with me!"

Tenten then yanked me away from the man, her hazel eyes narrowing at him.

"Why?" she demanded, pulling me close. The man suddenly became frazzled – worried even – and his eyes were pleading.

"Please, girls, there isn't much time! You must come with me, your safety is in jeopardy, and we must escort you out of the arena as quickly as possible! Please!" he cried, wincing when the crowd roared suddenly.

"But we can take a taxi—!

"—please, just _hurry!"_

I glanced worriedly at Tenten, who was rather busy with flipping off the hoards of enraged fangirls – which just pissed them off even more. I swear, was this girl _trying_ to get me killed?

"Tennie! Stop that!" I smacked her arm, and then turned to the man. "Yes, we'll come," I said, grabbing Tenten's arm and pulling her with me. She turned to me, eyes livid. "This guy says he'll take us home!" I said.

Tenten quickly looked at the man, and then back at the crowd, who were trying to run over the gates like a pack of zombies, arms outstretched and roaring. Though, to be honest, the fangirls would probably do a whole lot more damage than a swarm of zombies.

"Management is concerned about your safety, girls," the man said to Tenten, looking positively petrified now. "Please, we will escort you out, and then drive you girls home."

Tenten just shrugged. The man breathed a sigh of relief, and crooked a finger for us to follow him backstage. "This way."

"Wait! Oi, Pinky!" a voice suddenly called out. "What's your name?"

I half turned at the shout, seeing the blonde boy from before standing atop the stairs, towel in hand. Tenten squeaked.

I gulped. "Tennie, let's g—!"

But Tenten didn't acknowledge me. "She's Sakura! And I'm Tenten!" she screeched, face nearly splitting in half from her grin.

"Tenten!" I gasped. "Shut. Up!" Grabbing her free arm, I dragged her away.

"Why did you do that?" I cried as we followed the man. "Are you insane?"

"Because," she said, not looking at me as we both ran to catch up with that manager. "What harm could it do?"

I laughed out loud – a short bark of incredulous laughter. "That's what you said about this stupid concert!" I cried. "And look where it got us!"

I could practically feel Tenten's smirk. "Where it got _you._ I had nothing to do with this."

"You dragged me here!" I shrilled.

"Yeah, but _you_ slapped him!"

"_He_ kissed _me!"_

Yeah, and you still slapped him!"

* * *

Tenten collided into my back, and we both toppled forward, slamming into the shoe rack next to the wall. I managed to catch myself on the wall, wincing when the shoes clattered across the hallway floor. Tenten covered her mouth, trying to stifle her giggles. I smacked her arm.

"Shush, my dad's probably still asleep—"

"Sakura Haruno! Get in here right now."

I cringed, holding my purse against my chest. Tenten grinned sheepishly, backing towards the stairs.

"Oh, no you don't!" I hissed, grabbing her wrist and yanking her back to my side.

"Sakura!"

I swallowed the lump in my throat. "Coming, Daddy…"

"Daddy's girl," Tenten teased, poking my arm.

I ignored her and poked my head around the archway that led from the hallway into the lounge room. My father stood with his back to me, watching the television. I bit my lip when the emptying stadium was then displayed in the screen.

_How in the hell is it already on the news?_

"Hey, Dad, you know… me and Tennie are really tired, so, yeah, we're just gonna head to bed now! Heh… you know, school in the morning and stuff—"

"Bed can wait," he quipped sternly, his lone dark eye peeking through the dim light of the television screen. Boy, was he mad!

"Well, night Mr. Hatake!" Tenten squeaked, creeping past me.

"Not so fast, young lady. I need to speak with_ both_ of you." His voice was quiet now. I swallowed hard, edging around the doorway and into the lounge. My father's book lay abandoned on the sofa arm, a glass of water sitting alone on the coffee table.

Tenten inched up beside me, standing just behind me.

I cleared my throat. "So, um, what did you want to talk about, Daddy?" I asked, smiling widely.

My dad then sighed, and then turned down the volume, tossing the remote onto the couch. He then turned to face us, arms folded over his chest.

"You two care to tell me why you're all over the news?"

I glanced at Tenten. She shrugged minutely at me.

"Um…" I fumbled over my words. "We were… just… that awesome?"

I saw Tenten's head bob up and down furiously. "Yeah! She agreed. "They, uh, held a best fan award – thingy – and me and Sakura won! How cool is that?"

My father raised one lone eyebrow. "A best fan award?" Clearly, he was too smart to fall for that. "Sakura doesn't even like the _Fallen Angels,_ Tenten."

"Um… I just started?" I said, cringing at his questioning tone.

So, let me get this straight," my father began, taking one step forward. "You mean to tell me that you were kissed by one of the members, and then you slapped him – means you're their biggest fan?"

"Eh-heh…" I wrinkled my nose. "It's a new thing, Daddy… you know, like schoolyard teasing and stuff…"

The lounge was silent. My father just stared at Tenten and me. I then began to fidget, pulling at one the bangles on my wrist.

"Well—" my father started, but he was cut off when a woman with boobs the size of the country bounced onto the screen. Quickly, he lunged for the remote, grinning as he turned it up, leaning forward eagerly.

"Ew – Dad!" I cried, flapping my hand at him furiously, ignoring Tenten who had started giggling again.

"… _Yes, that's right folks! You heard first – superstar Sasuke Uchiha, leading member of the group Fallen Angels, was allegedly slapped onstage by an unidentified girl."_ The reporter tossed her hair back.

"_Now, I'm told by one of the representatives of the band that it wasn't a stunt, and was completely unplanned."_

The scene cut from the reporter to the last moments of the concert. I cringed, watching myself being twirled around on stage, looking like a clumsy ragdoll, arms flailing ridiculously. The boys were singing the last few lines of their song, and that was when it happened – that little punk tipped me backwards, pressing his lips to mine. A moment later, he stumbled backwards and I windmilled my arms around, finally regaining my balance.

I squeezed my eyes shut, hearing the stadium go deathly silent a moment later. Opening my eyes, I peeked at the screen, and saw myself hesitate before storming offstage. Not even a second later, the crowd erupted into an apocalyptic frenzy of screaming, arms flailing, and most likely the most amount of death threats that a single person could have ever received.

I saw my Dad then raise his hand, and the screen went black. Turning around, he threw the remote on the couch once more and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Best fan award, right?"

"Um…"

Dad then sighed, his hand moving to rub his temples, then run through his silver hair and end with a tired rub on the back of his neck. "I suppose that's the best explanation I'm going to get from either of you. So, bed – both of you. Now."

Tenten nudged my arm supportively. "It was just a mishap, Kakashi, we swear." She then flipped him the peace sign and bounced out of the room, humming to herself.

I then followed her lead, swinging my arms by my side as I walked.

"Sakura?"

I stopped, turning to face my father. "Yes, Daddy?" I said sweetly, grinning widely.

He pulled a face at me. "No more slapping pop-stars."

I snorted. "Right."

* * *

"Ha! Sasuke got owned by a chick!" Naruto crowed, legs kicking out frantically as his thumbs jammed into his controller.

"Shut. Up."

"Seriously, dude, how hard did she hit you? Your face is so red!" Kiba snorted, yelling triumphantly when he destroyed Naruto's player with one easy head-shot. The blond then cried out angrily, waiting for his respawn into the match.

"_Kiba!"_

Neji smirked from his place next to Sasuke. "Perhaps I should have kissed her, Sasuke. You might not be her type. Dark and broody doesn't always work for everyone, you know."

"Shut up, Neji. I'm everyone's type," Sasuke huffed indignantly. "The chick's probably a lesbian or something." Sasuke then flipped the ice pack over, wincing as the colder side stung at his cheek.

Naruto then roared with laughter and dropped his controller after pausing the game. Kiba growled, but dropped his too. "Dude, she ain't a lesbian. I just know it. But you," he said, pointing, blue eyes twinkling with mischief, "you're just pissy because there is actually a girl out there who doesn't worship that ugly mug of yours."

"Couldn't care less," Sasuke sniffed, turning away.

"Oh, really?" Kiba turned around, leaning his elbows on the coffee table, a sly and knowing grin spreading across his face. "Then why'd you demand to know her name?" He then raised an eyebrow, his grin splitting wider.

"I didn't."

"Yeah, ya did," Naruto said with a grin. "I remember. You were all like, 'Who the hell was that? Who does she think she is? How dare she hit me,' blah, blah, blah, I'm a pissy little boy!" Naruto quacked, voice taking on a tone that was at least three octaves higher than his own.

"What's your point, Naruto? –And I don't talk like that!"

Naruto took on a serious face. "You just can't stand the thought of somebody not loving you – not fawning over you like some lovesick puppy. 'Mister Popular gets slapped by a hot chick'. It's eating you away at you. Admit it."

"Shut up, Naruto. Go back to getting your ass handed to you by Kiba," Sasuke snarled, kicking Neji when he snickered.

Naruto just shrugged, turning back to the game. "I got her name, in case you're interested."

"I'm not, so shut up."

Naruto snorted and looked at Kiba. "It's Sakura."

Sasuke just grunted in response, pulling the pack away from his cheek and poking the tender surface of his cheek

_Sakura, huh?_

* * *

A shiver suddenly ran through my body, and I blinked.

"Hm?" I heard Tenten mumble.

"Weird little shiver thing," I said, waving my hand dismissively as I flopped back down onto my bed.

Tenten then sat bolt upright, face illuminated by the glowing screen of her phone. "Sakura, do you know what that means?!"

I peeked at her, not at all thrilled by her possible answer, but propping myself up onto my elbows anyway. "Um… that I have a nervous twitch?"

"No! Tenten squealed, crawling onto my bed, her face now inches from mine. "It means that Sasuke's thinking about you! Oh, he must be in love with your feisty attitude!"

I put my hand on her face and shoved her off of my bed and back onto the mattress on the floor, ignoring the little disapproving grunt she gave. "It's more likely that my father is on the phone telling his knitting buddies about his wonderful daughter." I made a face.

Tenten sat up again, screwing her nose up. "Your Dad knits?"

"Yeah, I think so. I mean, he always has those weird scarves and I never see him buy them," I said, lying back down. Tenten climbed back onto my bed and shoved me over, sliding under the covers. I rolled sideways, tucking my arms under my pillow.

"I never took your Dad for the knitting type. Cause, you know, he's… well… your Dad." She then shifted in her position. "We should set up cameras and catch him in the act," Tenten mused playfully. "You know, use it as blackmail for when we wanna skip school."

I laughed. "That's a great idea! We could be like Nancy Drew, only we'd live in the twenty-first century…"

"You can be Bess, then."

"Uh, no. You're Bess. Cause you always fall over stuff, and she's like, the lame-ass sidekick. And doesn't she have brown hair?"

"Yeah, but I'm a better detective than you. Also, Sasuke loves you."

I sat up, lifting my pillow with me and smacking her over the head with it. "For God's sake, Tenten, he doesn't love me."

"But, you guys kissed!"

"Because he's an asshole!"

* * *

**Now be honest, tell me what you thought of the chapter. Good? Bad? Go hide under a rock and never come out? Be honest people, I needs to know this shiznic. **

**So review, but only if you want too. :D**

**Mini-Stack.**


	2. Chapter Two

**Okay, so sorry about taking so long with this chapter!**

**To be perfectly honest, I had this written up weeks ago, but due to serious issues with mine and my Beta's email (like, mine just imploded one day, t'was awesome), posting this chapter has gotten delayed. And while I'm being honest, I will confess that this chapter is completely unedited as my Beta is busy. However, sometime in the future, I may replace this chapter with a properly grammar-ized one.**

**Sorry again for the wait!**

**Chapter three should be up sometime tomorrow or the next day. Depends on my study plans.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own '**_Naruto'_** or any **_'Naruto'_ **characters. I ain't that cool.**

* * *

"Sakuraaaa," Tenten whined, kicking my bed. "Get up!"

I flapped a hand in her general direction.

"G'way" I slurred, tucking myself deeper into the nest of bedsheets I'd created for myself. During the night, I must have kicked the duvet off, but I was still pleasantly warm.

"Fine, I'll just go!" Tenten said, sniffing. A moment later, I heard the door open and muffled voices.

"Saki, Kakashi says he's gonna pour water on you if you don't get up now." Tenten said, padding back into my room.

"Pssh," I muttered, rubbing my nose across my pillow. "Suure."

"No seriously- He has a bucket!" Tenten insisted, clattering around in my room.

Rolling onto my back, I spread my limbs into a starfish. My father would never pour water over me, he was just planning some ridiculous scheme to get me out of bed and he'd enlisted Tenten to help. Confident in my logic, I rolled my shoulders, digging them into the mattress.

Then what felt like an ocean of water hit me in the face. I screeched, thrashing, cut off when I choked on water. The deluge finally stopped and I sat up, pushing soaked hair from my eyes. My father leaned over my, already dressed in his suit, bucket in hand.

He waved at me. "Morning blossom. Sleep well?"

"_No_!" I exploded. I sat up quickly and swatted at my chuckling father.

Tenten roared with laughter behind my father, clutching my desk for support. I chucked a pillow at my father's retreating back, and one at her. It bounced off her head and she laughed even harder, holding her sides.

"Tenten!"

"Hey! Hey! I warned you!" She spluttered between laughs. She kept chortling, ignoring me as I shook my head angrily, splattering her with water.

Huffing, I snatched my towel off my chair. "You're so mean." I said as I walked from the room. I passed my father who eye was crinkled into a smile. I glared at him.

"Hey, at least you don't have to have a shower now!" Tenten called after me.

I flipped off the general direction of her voice.

* * *

"Well, good morning Sakura, how are we this morning?" My father teased from where he was stacking the dishwasher. Tenten snorted into her toast.

I pouted at my father, sliding into the seat next to Tenten and taking the other half of her toast. She smacked my hand.

"Ow-"

"Tha's mine." She said through a mouthful of food. I shrugged, shoving the piece into my mouth.

"Kakashi! Tell your daughter to stop eating my food!" Tenten cried, throwing her hands up dramatically.

"Sakura, stop stealing Tenten's food."

I swallowed, slamming my hand down on the table. "The injustice! I'm hungry and she has like seventy other pieces of toast!" I said dramatically, sniffing.

"Who cares about injustice, I'm hungry too!"

"You can live without one piece of toast."

"Um no. Now gimme!"

I held the toast above my head, leaning away from Tenten's grabbing hands. "Noooo!" I wailed. "It's mine!"

Tenten made a roaring noise. "Give it back!" She whined, slapping at my arms playfully.

The toast was tugged out of my hand and I heard a crunch. Pausing in our usual morning antics, Tenten and I looked up, and found my father eating the toast, a wide eyed look of innocence on his face.

"Dad!"

"Kakashi!"

"Well it was getting cold." He said, shrugging. "Now, we need to speak about last night."

"I thought you said after school…" I said meekly. Tenten slid back into her chair, eyes wide, mouth clamped shut.

"I know, I know, but I did some thinking and I realized that if this boy is the super-star that they claim on T.V. then you might be the victim of some harsh comments today, Sakura. And you too Tenten."

"But I didn't slap anyone!"

"Yes, but you did flip off national T.V."

"I didn't know it was gonna be broadcast…" She said resentfully, folding her arms.

My father looked at me and poked me in the forehead. "So, Sakura, I want you to be very careful who you talk to today, and where you go. Because you were all over T.V. last night, people will be rude to you, and your hair is… well rather recognizable."

I touched the messy pink strands. "Yeah…"

My father narrowed his lone eye. "I'm serious you two, until the hubbub about this dies down, be very careful and stay with each other at all times. I don't want a call saying that either of you two have poked another girl's eye out or something."

"Dad, please, I'm not gonna poke someone's _eye_ out."

"Just be careful, go straight to school, and come straight home. No buying food from the shop today girls."

"But, but, but…" Tenten whined.

With his speech done, my father crinkled his eye at us, ruffled our hair, eliciting angry responses from both Tenten and I, and left the room.

I looked at Tenten who was eating her toast with gusto.

"It won't be that bad will it?" I asked, taking the piece she offered me.

Tenten shrugged. "Depends on how many girls in Konoha have pink hair, and if anyone recognized you last night."

"So probably not that bad."

"Yeah, I bet people won't even care. They'll probably think it was some other girl."

"Cool. Oi, gimme more toast."

"_No!_ You're eating all my food- _Hey!_"

* * *

"So… I'm thinking they recognized you."

"More than somewhat…" I said glumly, staring down at my uniform, which was now stained with every food under the sun. I had coffee, cream and- was that custard?! I made a face, head flopping forward. Something slimy slithered down my face.

Oh that's right… I raked my fingers through my hair experimentally. My fingers came away coated in sticky fluid, a limp noodle clinging to my palm. I had noodles in my hair. _Noodles_. I scowled, flicking my hand at the sink. The noodle hit the porcelain with a wet _'splat'_.

Tenten wrinkled her nose. "Well at least they didn't put stuff down your shirt, right?"

"Yeah… But I smell like a rubbish bin."

"Kinda look like one too."

I pulled a face at her. "Thank you, that's just what I needed."

"No probs." Tenten leaned against the bathroom counter, having barricaded the door with the heavy metal rubbish bin that came standard in our school. "Temari's bringing your sports uniform."

"The senior?"

"Yeah, she texted me, asking how you were. I didn't even know she had my number."

"Weird."

Tenten shrugged, pulling stray noodles off my shoulders. "Come on; let's get this stuff outta your hair." She said, pushing my head under the sink tap and running cold water through my hair. "Or else you'll smell like Ramen for the rest of the day."

Tenten raked gentle fingers through my hair, turning my head this way and that.

There was a knock at the door. I flinched, half rising. Tenten paused. "Who is it?" She called.

"Temari. I have Sakura's uniform." Was the muffled response.

Tenten skipped over to the door, shoving the bin aside with her hip. I stood up, grabbing paper towels from the dispenser and started squeezing my hair dry.

Temari's angular face appeared in the door. She grinned at my dishevelled appearance. "Hey guys. I got you a spare uniform, Sakura."

I smiled at her. "Thanks, you're a lifesaver."

"No worries, oh and I think you slapping him was really brave." And with that, Temari was gone. Tenten shoved the bin back in place, throwing the neatly folded uniform at me.

"Go get changed," she said, giggling. "You smell like a rubbish bin."

I glared at her, flouncing into a stall and locked it behind me. Stripping off quickly, I dropped my ruined uniform on the ground, tugging the white and green polo shirt over my head and pulling the green netball skirt over the mandatory leggings.

Bundling the other uniform up, I unlocked the door and let myself out. "Do you have a plastic bag or something?" I asked, holding the dirty uniform up.

Tenten paused what she was doing on her phone, probably playing Angry Birds or something. She slipped it into her pocket. "I don't carry plastic bags with me…"

I dropped the uniform in the sink and ran the water hard against it. Hoping I could get the worst of the stains out of the shirt, I rubbed at the thin material furiously.

"Hm, well you have a folder." Tenten said, rummaging through my bad. "We could just rip one of the sleeves out and you could shove it in there."

"Its gonna stink up my bag." I said, contemplating whether I should put the hand soap in the sink with my dirty uniform.

"Well you're gonna stink up the school first, so…"

I flicked water at Tenten. "I don't smell that bad."

She wrinkled her nose delicately. "Oh yes you do, m'dear."

I pulled a face, turning back to the sink. The formerly white shirt floating in the sink looked stained beyond repair. I sighed, wringing it out. Looks like I was gonna have to scrounge out another sixty bucks for a new one. And by scrounge, I mean mooch off my father, because I was broke from buying that stupid concert ticket.

_Stupid boy bands_.

* * *

"And you two are late… Why?" Miss Yuhi raised an eyebrow, tapping her pen against the desk.

I kept my head down, fidgeting with my skirt, the red hot stares from my incensed class mates boring holes into me. Tenten rattled off a half assed excused, standing between me and the rest of the class, acting like a human shield.

Miss Yuhi shrugged. "Sit down girls, we're doing our assigned reading. Pages 45-48 please." She flicked her marking pen towards the classroom and Tenten dragged me down the aisle.

I stepped over an outstretched foot, shooting an incredulous look at the blonde girl. She pursed her lips at me and turned back to her book. "Bitch." She muttered.

"Are you-" Tenten pulled me into a seat, cutting off my complaint.

She grinned at me, flipping someone off over my shoulder. "Ew," she said, "Shakespearean language. It's like trying to wake you up in the morning."

I gave her a flat look, opening the battered text book. "That's not funny."

She flapped her hand at me. "It is, it really is. Anyway, they're all like 'doth love is like a dove-eth… Who even speaks like that?!"

"I don't think dove-eth is a word…" I said, propping the book up, and opening my workbook.

"Um, neither is doth, but viola, it's in there, just mocking me with its doth-i-ness!" Tenten said, slamming a hand down on the book. "Who even came up with this stupid language?!"

"Shakespearean or English?"

"Shakespearean you nut. Why would I have a beef with English?" Tenten huffed, scrawling across the top of her page.

"Um… Shakespearean is in English…"

Tenten said something, but I missed it when a balled up wad of paper smacked me in the forehead. I recoiled in shock.

"-What the Hell?"

Tenten stopped rambling, looking at me curiously. "Wha's that?" She said.

I smoothed out the crumpled sheet. On it, was a stick figure with a knife sticking out of its chest, a mop of messily scrawled hair drawn on its head. Underneath the drawing, it said it capital letters, underlined so hard that it tore the paper; _you're dead meat, pinky_.

I looked up, scanning the classroom until I found Karin turned around in her seat, burgundy eyes narrowed in my direction. She huffed, flipped her hair and turned back to face the front.

"Oh that's a terrible picture of you." Tenten said, reading the note over my shoulder, half out of her seat.

I screwed up the paper again, shoving it into my pencil case, which was spilling stationary and old pencil shavings onto the desk. "My hair doesn't really look like that does it?"

"Only when you wake up," Tenten said, rocking back into her seat. "And sometimes when it gets windy."

I shrugged, chewing my pen and propping my head up with my fist. "Ten," I said through the pen lid, "I'm going to be murdered before I can graduate."

As if to emphasize my point, another hate note hit me in the side of the head.

* * *

"This closet smells weird."

"Shut up, Sakura, it's the best I could do on short notice, okay?" Tenten said, rummaging around in her bag for food. "Where'd you put my lunch anyway?"

"When did I make lunch?" I asked, leaning against an old box. It sent up a puff of dust that had me wrinkling my nose against the tickling sensation. "I was planning on buying food from the shop."

Tenten threw her hands up, toppling sideways dramatically. "Noo," she whined, "we has no food! What shall we do for sustenance? We won't survive the winter!"

I dug around in the bottom of my bag, eventually finding my lunchbox from Thursday. Inside, there was a half-eaten muesli bar. I stared at it, wondering if I was hungry enough to eat it.

I never got the chance, because a moment later, Tenten ripped the lunch box out of my hands and opened it.

"Oi, that's my lunchbox!"

"Yeah…" Tenten looked at the bar contemplatively. "But since you got half yesterday… I get the other half today!" With that, she shoved the bar into her mouth, chewing furiously. She grinned at me through a mouthful of muesli bar, wiggling her fingers.

"That's so gross."

She swallowed noisily. "Your face is gross."

"_Your_ face is gross!" I shot back lamely, sticking my tongue out just to emphasize my point.

Tenten raised an eyebrow at me, then clapped her hands once, sitting up straighter. "We should have code-names! Then we can talk in code and no one will ever know what we're saying!"

"Codenames- what?"

"Ooh, ooh, I know, I'll be Panda-Bear, and you…" Tenten paused, stroking her chin. "Oh! You can be Pretty-Boy-Slapper!"

"_Pretty-Boy-Slapper_?!" I repeated incredulously.

"Mmhm… Cause you know, Sasuke's pretty and you slapped him!" Tenten cackled madly, throwing the empty muesli bar wrapper into the air.

"Tenten."

She held up a finger, "uh, uh, uh, Panda-Bear!"

"Panda-Bear, then."

"Yeeees, Pretty-Boy-Slapper?" Tenten said, clasping her hands in her lap and batting her eyelashes at me.

"Be glad you're not a pretty boy." I said, shoving her into a pile of old cleaning things.

* * *

The rest of the day passed without any more food throwing incidents, though I did get a large collection of hate notes, all of which told me that I was going to die or should die.

"Well at least its Saturday tomorrow," Tenten said cheerfully, swinging her arms as we walked home. "Then the only person who can throw food at you is me!"

"No more food fights, remember last time when you hit my dad in the face with an egg?"

"You weren't supposed to duck!"

"Well excuse me and my ninja like reflexes!" I said, smirking at her.

She punched me in the arm. "Who looked like a ragdoll getting thrown around on stage last night? Mmhm, you did."

"Shut up!" I whined, pushing open the gate that led up the short path to my front door. Tenten snorted, shoving me into the short hedge and bounced up the stairs.

"Last one inside gets to make dinner!" She said, flinging open the door and coming face to face with my father. "WHOA! Kakashi, hey!"

"Tenten, why are you crowing about dinner? Its only 3 o'clock."

I shoved Tenten past my father. "Dad, what are you doing home so early?"

"Your principle, Tsunade called, said something about you two and food?" He shut the door behind me and ushered us into the lounge. "Did you two start a food fight again?"

Tenten and I spluttered indignantly in unison. "No!" We chorused.

"We got to school, some random angry fangirls threw food at us and then we hid in a bathroom." I explained, picking up my dad's half eaten sandwich and biting into it.

Tenten grinned. "Yeah, Saki here looked ridiculous, covered head to toe in rubbish!"

My father tried to tug the sandwich from my mouth. "Sak- I was eating- Rubbish? They threw rubbish at you?"

I swallowed, batting his hands away. "Um… Coulda been, not really sure, I was too busy trying not to get hit by stuff."

"This is serious girls, you could have been injured!"

I shrugged, more interested in keeping Tenten from trying to eat my sandwich. "We're fine though, I bet'll die down by Monday- No, my sandwich!"

"Anyone would think you two don't get fed."

"We don't!" Tenten said, pouting when I shoved my hand in her face. "We didn't get lunch today!"

"You did! You ate my muesli bar!"

"We've been over this, Sakura, you got half yesterday, so it was only fair that I got half today!"

My father snorted, folding his arms. "We'll get take-out then, since you'll just raid the refrigerator if I try to make anything."

"Chinese!" Tenten and I said in unison.

My father crinkled an eye at us. "Stop fighting over a sandwich then, and I'll go order it." He said, walking out of the room.

"Get those dumplings with the pork in them!" I called after him.

* * *

"Saaaaaaaas-uuuuukeeeeeee!"

Sasuke grunted, lifting his head from his pillow. "Eh- what?" He opened his eyes and found Naruto's face inches from his. "-What the Hell?!" He said, planting a hand on his best friends grinning face and shoving him away from the bed.

Naruto fell to the ground with a cry. "Ow!"

Sasuke heard raucous laughter and rolled onto his back, propping himself on his elbows. Kiba was sitting on his dresser, kicking his legs.

The brown haired singer waved at him. "Morning sunshine- or should I say afternoon? You're wasting a perfectly good Friday dude!"

"What the Hell are you two moron's doing my room?"

"Because Neji's being boring and Itachi locked his office again." Naruto said, crawling onto Sasuke's bed. "So we came to wake you up."

"Get off my bed you gay little- _Hey!_" Sasuke suddenly found himself squished between both Kiba and Naruto. "Get. Off. My-"

"So, we did a little digging around on that little cutie Sakura and her friend, Tenten," Kiba said, winking.

"I don't care about that stupid little-" Sasuke was cut off when Kiba bumped his jaw with his shoulder.

"Yeah, so we called up Shikamaru and asked him to find out about her- Of course, he swore at us for a while 'cause we woke him up-" Naruto babbled.

"And he was all like, 'stalking someone? That's weird even for you guys' and I was like 'but Sasu-cakes wants to know'" Kiba interrupted.

"And then I was like, 'yeah and he's getting pissy and you know how he is when he's pissy' and he was like 'oh, well lemme put my pants on'- I dunno why he wasn't wearing pants."

"It's Shikamaru, if he could, he'd probably live his whole life without pants."

"He is pretty weird- His girlfriend is hot though…"

Sasuke punched Kiba and Naruto in the heads simultaneously, "Why did you tell Shikamaru I wanted to know who that girl was? I don't care about her!" Sasuke growled, glaring at Naruto when he tried to climb under the covers with him. "Get out of my bed!"

Kiba pinched his cheek, grinning at him. "You're in denial so bad, Sasu-cakes. We all know its eating away at you."

Sasuke slapped his hand away. "Stop calling me that!"

Naruto slapped Sasuke's back. "You've stopped denying that you like her!"

"I do not like her. I don't even know her!"

"Yeah, but she was hot and then she slapped you, so for you that's pretty much love!" Kiba said.

"That does _not_ mean I'm in love with her!" Sasuke roared.

"You're in love with who, Sasuke?" Asked an amused voice from the doorway. All three of the boys looked up to find Neji standing in the doorway.

"Get out. And take these idiots with you." Sasuke growled, glaring at Naruto again.

The blonde boy quailed under the stare. "Sasu-cakes, you're so mean to me!"

"Ah, have you finally admitted that the girl from last night intrigues you, Sasuke?"

"No! I don't like her!" Sasuke exploded, shoving Kiba when he started giggling. "Stop laughing and get out of my bed!"

Neji snorted. "Well, then shall I tell Shikamaru not to worry about sharing the full name of this girl with you then?"

Sasuke hesitated, allowing Naruto shove him flat on the mattress and crawl in with him.

"Naruto!" Sasuke cried, scrambling from the bed. "I swear to god, you're gay or something!"

Naruto folded his arms. "I wanted a hug Sasu-cakes."

"Are you guys always this gay? Or is it just when I'm around?" A bored voice interjected from the doorway.

"Shika-cakes!" Kiba cried, flapping towards the lazy boy.

"Eh- Get off-" Shikamaru choked, pushing at the boy latched onto his back. Neji snorted in amusement, leaning against the dresser.

Sasuke folded his arms across his chest. "You called Shikamaru here?" He growled at Neji, watching in slight amusement as Naruto and Kiba chased the lethargic genius around the room.

"I thought the information on your mystery girl was imperative, Sasuke." Neji said with a mischievous smile.

"She is not my _mystery girl_!" Sasuke insisted, kicking a stray t-shirt angrily.

"She-" Shikamaru shoved Naruto in Kiba, "is called Sakura Haruno and she lives in Konoha. In fact," he said, "she goes to school in the middle class suburbs. Gold Leaf High, years 8 to 12, all-girls school."

Neji raised his eyebrows. "That's quite a bit of information in one day, even for you, Shikamaru."

He shrugged. "Eh, I have my sources."

Naruto popped up, detangling himself from Kiba. "She's not like… twelve is she?"

"She's seventeen in March."

"Are you sure you're not a professional stalker?" Kiba said, walking around to stand next to Neji and shoving his hands into his pockets.

"Nah, he's too lazy to be professional."

"I agree," Neji said, smirk widening when Shikamaru punched him in the arm.

Naruto bounced over to Sasuke, slinging an arm around his neck. "Well, Sasu-cakes, whatcha gonna do now?"

"Go back to bed-"

Kiba flung an arm around his other shoulder. "But what about Sakura?" He said, "after all the trouble Shikamaru went to, to find her, shouldn't you at least, I dunno, friend her on Facebook?"

Sasuke struggled, shoving at their arms. "I don't like her-"

"Not now, but admit it, she interests you. I mean, she did slap you on national television. Any other girl would've killed to be kissed by you, but not her." Shikamaru said. "It's killing you inside."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. "Sakura _Haruno_." he said slowly.

Shikamaru nodded, raising an eyebrow.

* * *

I sneezed, sending my wheelie chair careening into Tenten's. She squawked noisily, flailing her arms.

"You ruined his nose!" She wailed, shoving her art book into my face. I recoiled, blinking furiously

"It looks fine-"

"NO! It's got like a massive dink in it from your ginormous sneeze." Tenten pouted at me and rubbed the eraser over it gently.

I snorted at her. "No one but you will even notice it…" I said, turning back to my work and neatly penning out the equation.

"I will always know!" She crowed and I felt her pencil hit me in the back of the head.

I whipped around, snatching the pencil off the ground and held it above my head. "Whatcha gonna do now, Tennie?"

Tenten pulled another pencil from her pencil case. "Yeah… Fail."

I hung my head, sitting back down slowly and putting the pencil back on her desk. "Damn you," I joked, raising my fist in mock anger and turning back to my maths book.

My room was silent for a few minutes until my chair was yanked away from the desk.

"Ahhh!"

My chair was spun and I found myself face to face with Tenten. She grinned at me. "Hey, so guess what?"

"What?" I said, raising an eyebrow and pulling a face.

"Sasuke loves you."

I shoved her chair away from me with my foot. She hooted, rolling into the door.

"You're an idiot."

She shrugged at me. "So what are we doing tomorrow?"

I made a face at my maths book. "I have that damn maths assignment to finish-"

"YOLO."

"What?"

"You only live once! So forget the stupid maths assignment and come shopping for new Manga with me!"

"Um… After today at school, I don't think my dad'll let us out of the house."

Tenten sighed, "Why couldn't you just faint like the rest of us, Saki? Why'd you have to go and slap him?"

"We've been through this! I'm not gonna let some random pop-star just _kiss_ me!"

"Speaking of kisses, what was it like?" Tenten said, leaning forward on her knees.

"I don't know!" I said, shaking my head at her incredulously. She had a one-track mind, honestly.

"But he kissed you, don't you remember?"

"Not really…"

"How can you not remember a kiss with that sex god?!" Tenten lamented, draping herself over me in mock horror.

"I was a bit busy-"

"With your lips!"

"Slapping him!"

* * *

**Bit shorter than I'd like, but I had to cut it off here in order to keep it from extending to around 10,000 words.**

**As you can see, Sakura and Tenten don't meet Sasuke and the others in this chapter. I found, now that I'm older and hopefully wiser (LOL) that having the meeting postponed until later on was slightly more plausible. **

**Also, Sakura's inner voice is gone. People found it annoying. So please, kind readers, tell me what you thought about the changes, the chapter and how I can improve!**

**SHIKAMARU. Yes. He is now in the story. People told me I did him an injustice by leaving him out. Also, he's badass. And has an earring. Yup. **

**-Fangirls into a corner-**

**Review if you like! ^_^**

**Mini_Stack.**


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